Nov. 7, 2009
FORT COLLINS, Colo - The Colorado State volleyball team continued its mastery of San Diego State as it defeated the Aztecs for the 17th consecutive time (25-21, 25-23, 25-20) Saturday afternoon in Fort Collins.
The Rams, who are receiving votes in this week's AVCA poll, improved their league-leading record to 12-1 as they moved to 20-4 overall. SDSU, which had won five of its previous seven matches entering play against CSU, saw its record fall to 11-13 overall and 5-8 in conference action.
Sophomore outside hitter Kyley Sexton led the Aztecs with 11 kills while teammate Lauren Salisbury finished with nine kills, three blocks and a pair of digs while hitting .500 for the match.
CSU's Megan Plourde and Danielle Minch recorded 10 kills apiece with Plourde hitting .462 over the three sets. The Rams hit .313 for the match compared to .181 for San Diego State, but the Aztecs were competitive in each game.
In the opening set, SDSU fell behind early at 10-6, but climbed back into the contest and knotted the score at 15-all. After the teams traded two points apiece to make it 17-17, the Rams scored five straight points to take control and go on to take the contest by a four-point margin.
Set two was the closest of the three as the teams remained with two points of each other and eventually forged a 22-22 tie. Colorado State then got a kill from Minch and an SDSU hitting miscue to take a 24-22 lead. After the Aztecs got one point back, a kill by Katelyn Steffan secured the win to make it 2-0 in favor of the home side.
The third set saw the Rams take the lead for good at 6-5 and extend that advantage to 17-10 and eventually 23-13. SDSU rallied, but could only get back to within four as Colorado State grabbed the five-point win to wrap up the match,
San Diego State will finish its conference road schedule next week as it travels to Colorado Springs to face Air Force on Friday, Nov. 13, in a match slated to start at 5:00 p.m. (MT).